Objenious Targets the Industrial IoT Market with LoRaWAN

Subscribe To Download This Insight

2Q 2019 | IN-5462

Objenious is offering Airbus a dedicated national network and platform to track assets nationwide. This type of solution requires a hybrid network architecture that can support multiple application and business requirements.

Registered users can unlock up to five pieces of premium content each month.

Log in or register to unlock this Insight.

 

Airbus Chooses Objenious to Deliver an Asset Tracking System

NEWS


On February 19, Objenious, a subsidiary of Bouygues Telecom, won a contract with Airbus to develop a dedicated Internet of Things (IoT) network using LoRaWAN. Objenious will build a dedicated private LoRa network covering Airbus factories and offers its Smart Portal Of Things (SPOT) IoT platform and network management in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model. This contract occurred after 4 months of pilot tests using 700 sensor devices, including solutions in asset trackers, programmable buttons, and temperature sensors. Airbus benefits from having a dedicated LoRa network and an Objenious national network to connect with mobile sensors throughout France.

Public + Private: Hybrid Network-as-a-Service Offering

IMPACT


Objenious offers its enterprise network a dedicated LoRa network with installation, operation, and ongoing maintenance of the network based on the project requirements. The unit cost per gateway is EU€450, with an annual first-level license of EU€4,500 for device and network management platforms (SPOT) and a Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol (L2TP) network server. Airbus will benefit from greater control of its own private network, unlimited data transmissions, and a number of end-point connections. Airbus, along with the dedicated private LoRa network, will also benefit from Objenious’ nationwide public LoRa network infrastructure, potentially allowing for tracking assets that are moving across multiple Airbus factories. However, Airbus will be charged separately when connected to its public network based on the number of connections and data usage. The Objenious service uses devices from French IoT solution provider Adveez for its airport equipment and asset tracking solution. Adveez has implemented its Ground Support Equipment solution in three other airports, including the Lyon–Saint Exupéry Airport in France.

Objenious claimed to have more than 100,000 connections, to date, on its public network as of November 2018, but also has witnessed substantial growth in building private networks for its enterprise customers. Objenious was established in 2016, and also claims to have nationwide LoRaWAN network coverage in France. Objenious was initially focused on building its nationwide LoRaWAN network coverage to compete with Sigfox. Over the last 18 months, Objenious has been incubating several pilot projects in collaboration with large enterprises and system integrators, which are now starting to commence larger scale rollouts this year. On March 12, 2019, The Picoty Group, one of France’s largest fuel distribution companies that provides fuel, gas, and lubricants in France, announced the implementation of Teletek’s smart tank monitoring solution in tens of thousands of tanks in France. Teletek, headquartered in Shannon, Ireland, is a supplier of ultrasonic tank monitoring devices in Europe and claims to have deployed more than 3 million devices in the field using GSM, and has more recently developed solutions using LoRaWAN and CAT-M/NB-IoT. Teletek’s LoRaWAN tank sensor uses Objenious’ LoRa network with a 14-year battery life and SPOT platforms to monitor over-ground and underground tanks to organize more efficient deliveries, reduce carbon footprint, and optimize logistics.

Non-Cellular LPWA Solutions Have a First-Mover Advantage

RECOMMENDATIONS


As the IoT market matures, we are witnessing enterprise customers gradually moving past evaluating connectivity technologies and witnessing the evaluation of solutions that can enable applications to deliver outcomes. It is increasingly clear that most asset tracking applications will require hybrid network architectures, often with multiple access technologies addressing enterprise customers’ multiple application and business requirements. Low-cost IoT end devices will need to support a combination of short-range wireless and Low-Power Wide-Area (LPWA) network technologies to enable targeting multiple vertical applications. Proprietary LPWA network solutions have been used to address niche industrial IoT applications in the past with customized solutions. Sigfox was the first to build a nationwide public LPWA network in France with its low-throughput ultra-narrowband network targeting massive IoT applications, and subsequently witnessed a number of early adopters, including Airbus. Airbus uses the Sensolus StickNTrack geolocalization and asset tracking solution to optimize its supply chain, tracking spare parts in recyclable packages in real time as they transit through various warehouses and ports. Airbus has been trialing multiple IoT solutions, including short-range wireless, LPWA networks, and other proprietary connectivity solutions.

The LoRaWAN and Sigfox solution ecosystems have, over the last few years, not only drastically reduced the cost of connectivity, but also significantly lowered hardware barriers, developing low-cost tracker devices under US$50 from multiple vendors. Non-cellular LPWA-based IoT solutions, to date, have the lead over cellular LPWA network technologies, with several Proofs of Concept (PoCs) expected to witness wider commercial rollouts in 2019. Condition-based monitoring and asset tracking solutions targeting geolocalization of non-powered assets are ready to scale with several end-to-end solutions in the market. Enterprise customers that are still evaluating new connectivity technologies are deploying solutions available today with a strategy of re-evaluating connectivity technology in 3 to 5 years during the next product design cycle.

Services

Companies Mentioned